Moulds are often used as a tool for food preparation where a metered amount of batter is placed in the mould cavity. This process may be done manually, but in commercial operations, a depositor may be used to automate this process. Further, in the making of pastries such as flans and quiches an overhead platen typically descends under force to locate the pastry base evenly on the base and may drive the pastry mix up between a gap between the overhead platen and the edge of the mould. A filling may then be deposited on formed pastry base.
One very common type of mould is the cake tin. Cake tins may have a peripheral wall of fixed shape. Others have a wall structure that is separable from the base and can be opened up to allow easy discharge of the cake from the tin. These tins, known as springforms, are widely used in industrial applications and are typically made from metal.
Although moulds such as the springform tins are designed for multiple use, in a commercial environment they tend to limit commercial production rates in that they require cleaning before use. Furthermore, by re-using the moulds, it is usually not feasible to leave the product in the moulds after it has been baked. Therefore the moulds are only used in preparation of the product and additional packaging is required for preparing the product for transport and sale.